Twilight Sparkle was excited. It was her first time in Manehattan. She'd always wanted to go, but not for the usual reasons that ponies wanted to visit Manehattan. She always wanted to visit the famous Manehattan Mercantile Library, one of the most famous libraries in all of Equestria. Now, she was finally here. Spike was off somewhere, probably looking at the Statue of Friendship, or one of the other things that ponies did when they visited. This was Twilight time. Besides, the library had a strict no Dragons rule.
She stepped out of the taxi carriage, and onto the sidewalk. There were ponies everywhere, and they were rushing everywhere. It was all very exciting, but nothing was more exciting then the ornate white marble building in front of her. Up those stairs, lay some of the most famous manuscripts in pony history. They had the complete works of Shakesmare, in the original folios, and hundreds of other works of famous literature, some in the author's original hooofwriting. But, that wasn't what she was after. She was after their magic collection. They had a few manuscripts by Star Swirl the Bearded that not even the royal archives in Canterlot had, and that was why she was here.
Twilight opened the door. On the inside was a giant lobby, filled with statues. Most of those statues portrayed the various business ponies whose donations had funded the library, and it's vast collections, but in addition to the standard bust of Celestia, there were statues of important figures from pony mythology lining the walls of the lobby. At the end of the room, there was a great staircase, with gilded banisters, and marble steps. This was definitely the grandest library that she'd had ever been in.
She stepped forwards, towards the earth stallion at the center of the room. He had a security guard uniform on, and he was eyeing her suspiciously. Her eyes continued to dart around the room studying it. The floor was of course marble, of a rare pink color, that she knew came from only one quarry in Prance. There was a great stained glass dome high overhead, depicting a scene from one of Shakesmare's plays. She wasn't paying attention, and she bumped into the stallion's desk.
"Name please." The stallion said with a look of extreme displeasure on his face.
"Twilight Sparkle. I'm the Princess's private student." Twilight replied, as her cheeks blushed.
"So, Twilight Sparkle of Canterlot." The Stallion said.
"No, I'm from Ponyville, where I'm studying friendship on a special mission from the princess." Twilight said.
"What are you looking for today?" The Stallion asked.
"Oh, I'm here to take a look at your copies of the works of Star Swirl the bearded." Twilight said.
The stallion checked a sheet of paper taped to his desk.
"Manuscripts are on the third floor, on the right." The stallion replied, but Twilight was already running up the stairs.
The back wall of the staircase had still more stained glass, this time showing scenes from the founding of Equestria. The story played as she climbed the stairs, with each landing containing the next scene. Twilight almost felt a desire to run all the way up, just so she could see the rest of the glass, but the draw of Star Swirl the Bearded was just too strong.
She exited the stair case, into a giant hallway with an arched ceiling with flying buttresses high overhead. At both ends of the hallway, there were more stained glass windows, with these depicting more scenes from Shakesmare. There were doors leading off to the right and left, and Twilight sparkle found the one on the right marked manuscripts.
She arrived at a small desk, occupied by a black unicorn with a pink mane. There was a sign on the desk in front of the Unicorn, Closed Shelves, assistant manuscripts librarian. There was a room beyond the desk, filled with tables, but there weren't any bookshelves. How could this be a library without bookshelves?
"Excuse me, where are the books?" Twilight asked the unicorn.
Closed Shelves face hoofed.
"The books are in the vault. Put in a request for what you want, and I'll get it for you." Closed Shelves replied. "Uhm, you do know what you want, right..."
Twilight shook her head, and Closed Shelves double face hoofed.
"Look, I'm Princess Celestia's private student. Surely you can make an exception." Twilight said.
"That would go against the very reason that this library was founded. You see, the business ponies of Manehattan realized that the Royal Archives were monopolizing knowledge like their corporations were monopolizing the market, so they formed a library where any pony could go to get information, without begging the Princess." Closed Shelves replied.
"But what kind of library doesn't let you look at books." Twilight replied.
"Look, even a stuck up old nobles like you can look at any book you please. All you have to do is fill out one of these forms and I'll get it for you." Closed Shelves said, in the kind of exasperated voice one would use on a particularly slow foal.
"But I don't know what to get! How could I know what to get without looking at the books." Twilight said.
"What are you looking for?" Closed Shelves said.
"I want to see the Star Swirl the Bearded collection." Twilight said.
"What's that?" Closed Shelves asked. "Was he the pony with the journal of his travels in the Griffon Empire?"
"No!" Twilight shouted.
The ponies at the tables in the room beyond were all looking at her now. She gave a weak little wave.
What kind of librarian didn't know who Star Swirl the Bearded was! It was one thing for her friends not to know, but how could someone whose Cutie Mark was a bookshelf not know who Star Swirl was? Twilight could do a better job then this stuck up little Unicorn. She'd even let ponies frolic around in the shelves if they wanted.
"He was a Unicorn Magician! The best there ever was!" Twilight replied, trying and failing to keep her temper in check.
"There's no need to throw a hissy fit you know, just 'cause you have a crush on some dead guy." Closed Shelves said. "Look, you crazy magic Unicorns have such a monopoly on magical knowledge that most of us have to go through life happy with being able to levitate things. Not every Unicorn can study magic. Some of us have to settle for literature."
"I do not have a crush on Star Swirl! He was dead for hundreds of years before I was born!" She argued.
There was a thump as a loosely bound collection of paper with tied together with string hit the counter. The cover said "Magic Manuscripts Finding Guide."
"It's in alphabetic order by author. Find what you want. Fill out one of these forms." Closed Shelves said with an air of finality.
Twilight turned through the book, her horn glowing as she filled out slips. Closed Shelves was eyeing her, like she wanted to interrupt, but she stayed quiet. When Twilight filled out fifty forms, she stopped, and hoofed them to the stuck up Unicorn.
"Two items at a time." Closed Shelves replied.
"What kind of library limits ponies to two items at a time!" Twilight Sparkle demanded.
"The kind of library where I have to run down stairs and hoof pick every item you request." The other Unicorn said.
Twilight wanted to argue, but it was hopeless. There was no way she was going to win, and most of the other people in the room already thought that she was insane. There was nothing that she could do, but pick out the two items that she wanted the most. She handed over those two cards, and in exchange Closed Shelves handed her a piece of paper and a pencil to take notes.
Twilight wandered into the room beyond. She picked out a table near the window. She studied the other occupants. There was a Pegasus reading an illuminated manuscript from the age of Discord, while an Earth Pony studied an ancient looking manuscript at another table.
Twilight's attention turned to the street below. The streets were busy with the wealthy residents of the surrounding neighborhood taking their morning walks. Canterlot might have been the political and social capital of Equestria, but Manehattan was the business capital, and most of the Equestria's business ponies lived here.
It took forever for Closed Shelves to return with the cart containing her requested items. Twilight started to levitate the first spell book off of the cart before she was stopped. Closed Shelves pointed to a sign on the table in front of her.
"Use no magic on manuscripts!" It declared.
Twilight grabbed the manuscript in her mouth. It tasted awful. She grumbled about how using her mouth would do more damage to the manuscript than even the most inept foals magic ever could, but she complied. She finally had a Star Swirl the Bearded Manuscript that even she'd never seen before. It was certain to contain all kinds of never before seen magic.
Twilight studied the two books, making extensive notes. Finally, she'd seen everything that she wanted to in those two books. They'd contained a few new spells, but much of it was mundane, and there were none of the startling revelations that Twilight had been expecting.
How could two books by the most famous Unicorn Magician to ever live contain spells as mundane as one to wash clothes. Twilight could never imagine that Star Swirl the bearded would have troubled himself with simple domestic magic like clothes washing. There had to be some valuable spells in one of the books.
It was late afternoon now, and Twilight headed back to the desk. Closed Shelves was chewing bubble gum, while talking to a cute looking Stallion. She glared at Twilight.
"I'm done with the two books you brought me, and I'd like some more." Twilight said.
Closed Shelves pointed at a sign on the divider behind her head.
"All requests must be put in more than an hour before closing." it said.
Twilight checked the clock. The library closed in 58 minutes. Twilight glared at Closed Shelves the entire time she took gathering her notes. It had been just two minutes. She could have made an exception. Twilight was after all the Princess's private student. Once she had her notes, she returned to the desk to try one last time.
"Come on! It's only two minutes past four! You have to make an exception! I came here all the way from Ponyville!" Twilight said.
"No." Closed Shelves replied.
Twilight was starting to lose it. The idea that somewhere in the building there were unknown spells by Star Swirl the Bearded was eating at her very soul. She could here the books calling out to her, they needed her, just as much as she needed them.
"You have to!" Twilight said, tears welling up in her eyes.
Everypony was looking at her now,
Twilight mumbled the entire way out of the building. It just wasn't fair that some ponies got to keep knowledge under lock and key like that.